Gardening: Heaven's bright star

Paul Martin's stunning design took top prize at Dublin's Garden Heaven Show, earning him the right to take on Chelseas best, writes Dermot O'Neill

In the new millennium, Ireland has firmly established itself on the world stage as a source of leading garden designers. Each year the best of Irish design talent exhibits at London’s Chelsea Flower Show, always returning with a clutch of medals.

Now, however, efforts are under way to turn Dublin’s annual Garden Heaven Show into Ireland’s own Chelsea. The show garden section has been expanded, and the event awarded its own medals for the first time this year.

I hope it is the start of a new tradition that will gather momentum and build interest in gardening in the same way Chelsea has done both in the UK and here in Ireland.

Last weekend, it was Paul Martin who scooped the top prize, the gold medal. Martin’s gardens have a particular style — a blend of clean, modern lines usually softened by luxurious planting. He captures the present superbly, but always